


it started with a pebble

by starlitsequins



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, ft. keith and lance being idiots as usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-30 01:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12643695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlitsequins/pseuds/starlitsequins
Summary: The window slid open and he grinned, opening his mouth to greet her when—“What the fuck are you doing? I’m trying to study and you throwrocksat my window? Who even are you?”Lance took a step back at the sight of a completely new face, poking out at of the window and glaring down at him.“Shit,” he muttered. “Sorry, man,” he called up. “Wrong window.”“Wrong win—” The person looked at him in disbelief. He was wearing a ratty Mothman t-shirt and his hair was tied up into a messy ponytail. He was also cute, but that...that wasn’t important.In which Lance throws a pebble at the wrong window and falls in love anyway





	it started with a pebble

Lance picked up a handful of pebbles and turned them over in his hands, thinking. He could practically hear Pidge’s voice in the back of his mind warning him to _not do it Lance, don’t you dare do it, you idiot…_

He grabbed one and threw it at the window. It bounced off with a _clink_ and tumbled back to the ground. He stared at the yellow light, waiting for her to open the window.

Nothing.

Well, Lance was nothing if not _persistent._

He threw another, and then another, and then a handful. _Is she ignoring me?_ he thought, disappointed. Taking one last pebble off the ground, he threw it at the window, crossing his fingers for a response.

The window slid open and he grinned, opening his mouth to greet her when—

“What the _fuck_ are you doing? I’m trying to study and you throw _rocks_ at _my_ window? Who even are you?”

Lance took a step back at the sight of a completely new face, poking out at of the window and glaring down at him.

“Shit,” he muttered. “Sorry, man,” he called up. “Wrong window.”

“Wrong win—” The person looked at him in disbelief. He was wearing a ratty Mothman t-shirt and his hair was tied up into a messy ponytail. He was also cute, but that...that wasn’t important. “You were trying to throw rocks at some girl’s window?”

“It’s romantic!” Lance defended himself. He took a step forward, squinting up at the person. “What’s your name?”

A beat of silence, then: “Keith.”

“I’m Lance,” Lance replied. “I think we had a class together freshman year.”

“Don’t remember you,” Keith said, turning away. 

“No, no, no, no,” Lance said, waving his hands. “Lance and Keith? Neck and neck? We were like rivals!”

“Nope,” Keith said, shaking his head. “I totally forgot you.”

“Well, I couldn’t forget about _you_ ,” Lance muttered, squinting up at him. “Not with that terrible mullet.”

“Is this your way of flirting?” Keith asked, arching an eyebrow. 

“Is it working?”

Keith crossed his arms on the windowsill, leaning out a bit farther. He hadn’t left yet, which Lance counted as a win. “That still doesn’t explain why the fuck you were throwing rocks at my window.”

“Relax, they’re just pebbles,” Lance said, tossing one in his hand. “It was meant for a girl in my class.”

“I’m sure she would’ve loved having pebbles thrown at her window at 8 pm,” Keith said.

“She would’ve!” Lance said. “Except I don’t exactly know if she likes me. Or knows my name.” If he had to be completely honest, he was pretty sure his crush was just that—a crush, and a small one at that. 

“What a surprise.” Keith raised an eyebrow and Lance threw a pebble at him, purposefully missing so it bounced off the wall next to Keith.

“I’m a catch!” Lance protested. 

“I’m trying to _study_ ,” Keith pointed out, but he still didn’t leave.

“This is pretty romantic, though,” Lance replied with a grin. “Like Romeo and Juliet.”

“O, Romeo, Romeo,” Keith said dryly. “Wherefore art thou a piece of trash?”

“You’re so annoying,” Lance complained. 

Keith quirked an eyebrow. “Then why are you still talking to me?”

“Why are _you_?” 

Keith paused, staring at Lance contemplatively. “Good point,” he said finally, reaching out, and Lance realized he was about to close the window.

“I’ll see you later, Keith!” he yelled before he was shut out. “Bye!”

The window shut closed with a bang and curtains were hastily drawn, but Lance could’ve sworn Keith was smiling.

* * *

Keith rubbed his eyes as he stared down at his astrophysics homework, as if glaring at the problems would make them go away. He groaned and banged his head on the table twice for good measure. There was a _clink_ and he jerked his head up to see a pebble bounce off his window.

_Not again_. Keith sighed and walked over to open his window. It was raining and he grimaced as droplets of water ran down his hair. He looked down and sure enough, Lance was standing out in the rain, a ridiculous grin on his face.

“Hey!” Keith yelled. “You got the wrong window again!”

“Keith!” Lance bounced up and down (adorable) and waved. “Hi!”

“How did you manage to mess up twice?” Keith asked, shaking his head. He rested his arms on the windowsill and couldn’t help but smile as Lance raked a hand through his wet hair, looking up at him with shining eyes.

“I didn’t mess up,” Lance replied. “I came by to see you.”

“...What,” Keith said intelligently, face heating up despite the cold air.

Lance huffed. “I came by to see you!” he repeated. “What, I can’t stop to say hi?”

“You could come up to visit me, like a normal goddamn person,” Keith shot back. “What if you end up breaking my window?”

“I won’t,” Lance promised. “And I”ll stop bothering you, I swear, on one condition.”

“That condition being?” Keith asked, raising his eyebrows. Rain was getting into his dorm room now, splattering his homework. He couldn’t bring himself to be upset about that.

“Grab a cup of coffee with me tomorrow,” Lance said. “Please?”

Keith’s fingernails dug into his arms. “With you?...Why?”

Lance shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “Because I want to,” he replied. “And besides,” he added, his smile turning more confident, “I’m standing out here in the rain for you! Isn’t that romantic?” He spread his arms out. “How can you turn me down like this?”

“It’d be pretty amusing,” Keith admitted.

Lance clapped a hand to his heart. “I’m wounded, Keith,” he said overdramatically. “I offer you coffee and you break my heart.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Get out of the rain before you catch a cold or something.”

“You do care!” Lance grinned at Keith triumphantly. “I’m gonna keep trying to win you over, y’know.”

Keith opened his mouth, to say something like, _yes, I’ll go on a date with you_ , or _no, you’d never want to be with someone like me_ , but ultimately chose to shake his head and simply said, “Bye, Lance.”

He closed the window before he could hear Lance’s reply.

* * *

Keith gritted his teeth as pebble after pebble clattered on his window. God, was Lance there _again_?

(He was trying hard to be annoyed, Keith knew he was, which was essentially what made him walk over and slowly open the window.)

“Reciting _Romeo and Juliet_ won’t work,” he said, as soon as he opened the window. “The only character I care about in that play is Mercutio.”

“Totally understandable,” Lance replied with a nod.

“So what is it now? Come to try and convince me to go on a date with you?” Keith asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“You make it sound like my life revolves around you,” Lance complained. 

“So were you?” Keith asked

“ _Maaybe_.”

“Well,” Keith said, ducking out of the window to grab his bag, before popping his head back out, “I’ve got to head to class.”

Lance perked up. “We can walk together!” he offered. “If you don’t mind.”

Keith chewed his lip, every instinct of his screaming _push him away_ but his mouth spoke before he could stop it and he found himself saying, “Sure.”

“You didn’t technically say no,” Lance said, as soon as Keith met him outside.

“What?” Keith frowned.

“You didn’t technically say no to a date,” Lance clarified.

“ _You_ didn’t technically ask,” Keith countered.

“Fine, fine,” Lance said, as they began to walk to Keith’s class. “But I’ll win over your heart someday.”

“God, you’re so dramatic,” Keith groaned.

“So do I have your permission to try?” Lance asked, a lopsided smile on his face.

“Yeah, whatever,” Keith said with a shrug. “Go for it.”

And that, Keith decided, was how it started.

It became routine for Lance to occasionally walk with Keith, and then Keith would sometimes do the same for Lance, and then it sort of snowballed from there and Keith found himself grabbing coffee with Lance and studying with him and suddenly the idea of _pushing Lance away_ had became a very, very foreign thought.

“Is this a date yet?” Lance asked jokingly, setting down a cup of coffee in front of Keith during one of their meet-ups for coffee.

“Try harder,” Keith said, tearing open a packet of sugar and stirring it in. “You didn’t even pay for my food.”

Lance tilted his head back and laughed and Keith couldn’t help but watch.

* * *

“Why are you here?” Keith asked, staring down at Lance, whose eyes were fixed on the handful of pebbles in his hand. “It’s past twelve.” The moonlight was hardly enough to read Lance’s expression.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Lance admitted. “And I knew you’d be up. And I just—I thought—” He shrugged. “I wanted to see you.”

_I wanted to see you too_. The words stuck in his throat. “Why couldn’t you sleep?” he asked instead.

“Stress?” Lance guessed. “I don’t know, I’m just so...tired. All the time. And yet I can’t sleep.” He rubbed his eyes. “College is...hard.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.” Keith sighed. “I’ve been studying all night. I don’t think I’m even absorbing anything anymore.” Keith fell silent and Lance looked away, as if finally realizing what he was doing. He backed away and Keith’s head snapped up.

“Wait!” he called, hating how desperate he sounded. “Why don’t—Why don’t you come up?”

Lance hesitated for a moment, before nodding slowly. “Okay,” he said finally. “If it’s all right with you.”

Once Lance was inside, Keith handed him a cup of tea which Lance gratefully took. His hands were freezing, having walked to Keith’s dorm in the middle of night during November. 

“What were you thinking, walking in this weather without a coat?” Keith murmured. “It was supposed to snow tonight.”

“I don’t know,” Lance said, taking a sip. “I’m not quite sure what I’m thinking.”

Keith sat beside him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I think I am, sort of," Lance said slowly. "Just talking with you helps."

Keith looked away. "I'm always here, you know that right? Just...throw a pebble at my window. I'll always answer."

Lance huffed out a laugh. "That's good to know." He paused. "Stress wasn't the only thing keeping me up," he added hesitantly. "There was also you."

"Me?" Keith furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Lance set down his tea cup. The sound seemed to echo around the room. He bit his lip nervously before finally speaking. “I like you.” Lance smiled, a little helplessly. “A lot. And I think you like me too.”

Keith stared down at his tea cup hard and swallowed harshly. “This isn’t...this isn’t one of your dumb jokes, is it?”

“It’s not,” Lance replied, watching Keith carefully. It was quiet again. Keith continued to stare down at his cup, very aware of Lance watching him. Finally, a cascade of words spilled out of Lance. “And I totally understand if you don’t feel the same and I can leave right now if you’re uncomfortable and—”

Keith grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him down. “Shut up,” he muttered and leaned up to kiss him. Lance stiffened before relaxing into the kiss, his lips curling up against Keith’s.

Keith pulled back and handed Lance’s tea to him. “Now drink your tea,” he said, looking everywhere _but_ to Lance’s eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had hypothermia already.”

Lance brought the teacup to his lips, concealing his smile. “You surprise me every time, Keith,” he said quietly.

Keith said nothing, but slipped his hand into Lance as they watched the snow start to fall outside.

* * *

Lance jolted as a chunk of snow struck his window with a _thump_ and fell to the ground.

“What the…” he started, moving to the window. He opened it and was hit with another chunk of snow. “Hey!” He glared down to see Keith laughing at him. “Keith!”

“Sorry,” Keith said, not looking the slightest bit of sorry. “I just had to.”

“That’s it,” Lance said, sighing. “I’m breaking up with you.”

Keith laughed again and Lance couldn’t help but smile at the sight of it. “We couldn’t last a week,” he joked. “Allura’s gonna be heartbroken.”

“Yeah…” Lance trailed off. “You know it was her window I was trying to hit originally, right?”

“ _Allura’s_?” Keith’s mouth dropped. “She would’ve killed you!”

“Well, I know that _now_ ,” Lance defended himself. “I didn’t at the time.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Guess I got lucky when I hit your window instead.”

“Guess I got lucky too,” Keith said, so softly Lance could hardly hear it from where he was. Then he tilted his head back up. “Get down here, before I throw another snowball. I need my caffeine intake.”

“When I threw pebbles at your window, it was romantic,” Lance complained. “This is just mean.” He ducked as another snowball was thrown at him, just barely missing him. “All right, all right, I’m coming down.”

He shut the window and grabbed his coat, staring at the stack of books for a second before turning away (studying was for future Lance to take care of) and rushed down to where Keith was waiting.

“Hey,” he said, pressing a kiss to the corner of Keith’s cheek and was rewarded with a blush. “Let’s get going, then.” 

He slipped his hand into Keith and Keith bumped their shoulders together. “This is payback for every time you’ve thrown something at my window,” he said. “One day you’re gonna break it.”

“I’ll still think it’s extremely romantic,” Lance said. “It’s not my fault you didn’t appreciate my attempts to make you fall in love with me.”

Keith looked down at their interlocked hands. “Well, it worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. It did.” Lance smiled at Keith and he smiled back, open and happy, and if Lance wasn’t already in love, well. He definitely was now.


End file.
